THE AMERICAN HOTHEAD

"The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy." - President Woodrow Wilson

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Another day, another school shooting in America. I've always thought there could be some kind of link between psychiatric meds and shootings. Many of the individuals responsible have been taking these meds, as I'm sure many other bloggers and smarter people than I have deduced. (SSRI Stories does probably a better job than me in outlining this topic not just for school incidents, but overall.)

So, I thought I would do a quick google search regarding the recent shooter - Jaylen Fryberg - and "drugs", just to see what came up. Well, to my surprise (chortle), one of the first links that comes up:

In a nutshell, the shooters school district was just given a $10 million dollar federal contract (along with 2 other schools in the district), to "work to create a safe school environment that provides mental health services to students in need, addresses violence prevention, and establishes safe school policies." Hmm, too little, too late? Here's the press release: "Three districts to share $10 million federal grant".

Why aren't there any $10 million dollar grants into studying links between psychiatric meds, and possible links between mass murder? Maybe because big pharma lobbies against such studies? That the FDA is run by such pharma companies? "Is big pharma bad"

Sunday, November 10, 2013

November 4, 2013

Science, in all its grand ambition and contemporary sophistication,
doesn’t quite have what it takes yet to replicate anything like blood.
It not only delivers oxygen and essential nutrients, but also serves a
host of other functions crucial for our survival, such as fighting
infections, healing injuries and regulating hormones.
So far, researchers have concentrated the bulk of their efforts on the
more modest goal of creating something that can at least effectively
carry out the vital role of transporting oxygen throughout the body.
This kind of “artificial blood” would be a useful substitute for
critical circumstances such as medical emergencies, when the body can’t
do this on its own. It could also be designed to be sterile, unlike real
blood, which can be infected and infect others during a transfusion.
And while donated blood requires refrigeration, a synthetic version
could be made to last longer and be readily available for various
life-or-death situations, even on the battlefield.
The latest bearer of hope for such a potential breakthrough comes
from a research facility located in the Transylvanian city of
Cluj-Napoca, of all places. (Yes, Translyvania is a real place in
Romania.) Researcher Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu, a professor at
Babes-Bolyai University, has been working on a unique concoction and his
work hasprogressed to the point where he and his team
successfully transfused a blood substitute into mice—without them
experiencing any ill effects, according to a report by the Romanian news outlet Descopera.
He intends for the lab-engineered blood to work inside the body for
several hours or even up to an entire day as the body replenishes
itself.
The creation of true artificial blood has become a medical “holy
grail” of sorts. So much so in fact that some of the brightest minds in
medical science, hailing from ambitious startups to multi-billion dollar
health care companies, have exposed an unknowing public to risky
experiments that have thus far only yielded disheartening, and at times,
disastrous consequences. Industry giant Baxter Healthcare Corporation was the first to attempt clinical trials on human test subjects in the 1990swith a substitute called HemAssist; the study was quickly canceled as it became apparent that patients receiving the manufactured substance died at a noticeably higher rate
than those those who got donated blood. And in the mid-2000s, a
now-defunct company named Northfield Laboratories was engulfed in
controversy when researchers carried out emergency transfusions using a
similar substance called PolyHeme onunconscioustrauma
patients without their consent. At the time, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) gave regulatory approval to perform the research as
a “no-consent study.”
The principal challenge in safely mimicking the oxygen-carrying
properties of human blood is that hemoglobin, the molecule responsible
for transporting oxygen, is prone to breaking down easily and quickly
without the blood cell’s membrane to protect it from outside stresses.
While modified versions of other sources such as a cow’s blood are more
sturdy, they also have a tendency to attach to nitric oxide, which can
lead to high blood pressure. For now, the FDA does not approve the sale
or use of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) due to
well-established findings that show these variations have dangerous side
effects, such as high blood pressure, and can also “escape the blood
vessels and damage the kidneys and other organs,” according to a statement from the government agency.
Silaghi-Dumitrescu’s product, however, isn’t hemoglobin-based but instead uses hemerythrin,
a protein equivalent found in invertebrates, such as sea worms, that
isn’t nearly as vulnerable to the rigors of outside stressful
environments. The substitute is a mix of hemerythrin, salt and albumin—a plasma cocktail that he believes can be refined and mixed with water to someday make “instant blood.”
Although there’s the obvious irony that the research is being done in
Romania, where the legend of Dracula originated, Silaghi-Dumitrescu’s
work looks to be legitimate and reputable considering that a peer-reviewed paper trail
has shown that he’s been developing the artificial blood for some
time. He plans to continue with animal studies for a couple more years
in preparation for human trials.
“Tests on humans are an extra gentle subject,” Silaghi-Dumitrescu told Medical Daily. “Authorization…represents a huge risk.”

Thursday, July 25, 2013

This comes from the Telegraph. Even the Syrian rebels see that Jihadists have overtaken the rebellion and are more afraid of heart eating psychotic muslims who want to install Sharia law, and will take Assad over them! Yet, we are getting ready to arm the rebels. Which rebels? Who's doing the due-diligence on this one? Quote "Assad is terrible, but the alternative is worse.."

Disillusioned by the Islamist twist that the "revolution" in Syria
has taken, exhausted after more than two years of conflict and feeling that
they are losing, growing numbers of rebels are signing up to a negotiated
amnesty offered by the Assad regime.

At the same time, the families of retreating fighters have begun quietly
moving back to government-controlled territory, seen as a safer place to
live as the regime continues its intense military push against rebel-held
areas.

The move is a sign of the growing confidence of the regime, which has
established a so-called "ministry of reconciliation" with the task
of easing the way for former opponents to return to the government side.

Ali Haider, the minister in charge, said: "Our message is, 'if you really
want to defend the Syrian people, put down your weapons and come and defend
Syria in the right way, through dialogue'."

Mr Haider, who has a reputation as a moderate within the regime, has
established a system in which opposition fighters give up their weapons in
exchange for safe passage to government-held areas.

Rebel fighters have privately said that they are aware of the amnesty offer,
and that some men had chosen to accept it, although they say that the
numbers involved remains a small proportion of those fighting the
government.

"I used to fight for revolution, but now I think we have lost what we
were fighting for," said Mohammed, a moderate Muslim rebel from the
northern town of Raqqa who declined to give his last name. "Now
extremists control my town. My family has moved back to government side
because our town is too unsafe. Assad is terrible, but the alternative is
worse."

The prevalence of extremist Islamist groups in rebel-held areas, particularly
in the north, has caused some opposition fighters to "give up" on
their cause.

Ziad Abu Jabal comes from one of the villages in Homs province whose residents
recently agreed to stop fighting the regime. "When we joined the
demonstrations we wanted better rights," he said. "After seeing
the destruction and the power of jihadists, we came to an agreement with the
government."

Mr Haider said that he had attended a ceremony yesterday at which 180
opposition fighters rejoined the government's police force, from which they
had previously defected.

Although it was not possible to verify this claim, when The Daily
Telegraph previously visited the reconciliation ministry's headquarters in
Damascus the office was crowded with the family members of rebels fighting
in the city's suburbs who said their men wanted to return.

A ministry negotiator, who gave his name only as Ahmed, was in the process of
arranging the defection of a rebel commander and 10 of his men from the
Ghouta district.

"It took us three months of negotiation and this is a test," he
said. "If this goes well, the commander says that 50 others will follow."

He described the steps taken to allow the return of fighters willing to lay
down their arms. First, he said, a negotiator must cross the front line for
a meeting on rebel-held territory. "We have to hope the rebel commander
orders his snipers not to shoot us."

Would-be defectors were given papers allowing them to pass through Syrian army
checkpoints, and then waited in a safe house until the officials could get
their names removed from wanted lists held by the more hardline defence
ministry and intelligence agencies.

The rebels "did not sign up to be part of extremist Islamist groups that
have now gained influence", he said. "Now they want to come back
to a normal life."

In the days before the regime took the town of Qusayr last month, The Telegraph
saw mediators on the Lebanese border work with the Syrian army to secure an
amnesty for fighters wanting to surrender.

The phone rang with desperate calls from the parents of the rebels. "These
mothers know that this is the last chance for their sons. If they don't give
up their weapons now they will die because they are losing the battle,"
said Ali Fayez Uwad, the mediator.